Company details

HEADCOUNT

100-499

ORG TYPE

Corporate

SECTOR

Real Estate & Built Environment

WEBSITE

http://www.thakeham.com/

About the company

Thakeham is a UK housebuilder and “community creator” focused on infrastructure-led residential development across the South East of England. The company highlights sustainability credentials, including “Zero Bills” homes delivered with Octopus Energy. Thakeham builds a mix of private, affordable and partnership homes, and positions partnerships with local authorities and housing associations as a core route to delivery. Public careers materials also frame Thakeham as actively addressing the construction skills gap through apprenticeships, graduate routes and work experience.

Locations and presence

Thakeham’s main base is Billingshurst, West Sussex, with a regional office referenced in West Malling. Roles and careers content are framed around South East delivery, with a hybrid pattern described as two days a week in the office where the role allows.

Palpable Score

67.3

/ 100

Thakeham offers real early-career entry points through apprenticeships, graduate routes and structured work experience, plus a benefits package that looks stable for a mid-sized builder. The score is held back by limited published pay ranges and only partial public evidence on early-career progression outcomes beyond individual stories and awards.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

16.0

/ 20

The company runs an “Apprenticeships & graduate careers” pathway and describes apprenticeships that combine paid work with learning, including routes that can run from 18 months up to five years.
Thakeham publishes a dedicated 2026 Year 10 and Year 12 work experience programme with fixed dates, multi-department exposure (land, planning, construction, sustainability, social value), and an application deadline.
The company’s live “current jobs” list can skew senior in quieter periods (for example Senior Development Manager), so early-career access looks consistent in intent but not always visible in open vacancies at any one time.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

13.0

/ 20

The company gives applicants some concrete expectations in job pages through detailed responsibilities and skill requirements (for example the Customer Care Coordinator listing includes SLAs, systems used, and day-to-day tasks).
Thakeham sets clear timelines for student work experience selection, including a stated application deadline and when candidates should hear back, which is rare and helpful for first-time applicants.
The company does not consistently publish salary ranges and most roles funnel to “Apply now” without a clearly described multi-stage process, which limits transparency compared with best-in-class early-career hiring.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

15.3

/ 20

The company describes a structured induction programme, onboarding IT training, and role-relevant training support, which are practical early-career foundations.
Thakeham frames apprenticeships as “earn while you learn” with exposure across sites and departments, and includes real apprentice stories that reference meetings, site visits and live project problem-solving.
The company talks about “development programmes” for people starting out, but public materials rarely spell out the mechanics juniors rely on most, such as buddying, review cadence, and how rotations are structured for graduates.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

11.8

/ 20

The company lists tangible stability benefits on role pages, including private medical insurance, life assurance, pension, and 26 days’ holiday increasing with service.
Thakeham publishes policies that support sustainable working patterns for early-career staff, including flexitime, hybrid working where roles allow, and earlier Friday finishes in summer months.
The company repeatedly states pay is “competitive” and references annual salary reviews and a discretionary bonus scheme, but the lack of salary ranges on most listings caps confidence on pay fairness.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

11.2

/ 20

The company shares at least one detailed apprentice progression story (for example an engineering apprentice moving from work placement to apprenticeship and aiming for further qualifications), which is a concrete outcome signal.
Thakeham has public employer recognition claims (including a Best Companies 2025 ranking callout in role pages), but that does not replace measurable early-career outcomes like promotion timelines or retention rates.
The company has mixed third-party review sentiment visible publicly, and the available volume is not enough to reliably judge early-career retention and progression across teams.

Useful links & resources

Apprenticeships & graduate careers (Thakeham)Current opportunities (Thakeham)School work experience placement 2026 (Thakeham)